HENRICO COUNTY, Va.-- As you prepare and eat your Thanksgiving meals, you’re probably already looking forward to the next big holiday.
This time of year is one of the busiest for firefighters across Central Virginia. In fact, the leading cause of fires in Henrico County is the unattended stove.
Henrico Fire says they’ve responded to more fire calls this fall than in years past.
"With the drought and with the wind, starting to get some lower humidities, you know, we know we're going to have a problem throughout the holidays," explained Henrico Battalion Chief Doug Reynolds. "There's never a good time to have a fire but it always seems worse for us here in the holidays”
From cooking to decorating, Reynolds doesn’t want you to experience the tragedy he’s seen over his 30 plus year career.
"My very first house fire was a Christmas Eve fire," he noted. "You know, devastating to see somebody lose everything. They had several kids."
Since then, he’s made it his mission to educate people, preaching fire safety.
"The unattended stove is our leading cause of fire," explained Reynolds. "The biggest thing is you just have to stay with your stove. Any pots and pans, if you've got young kids, put those handles to the back because you don't want kids to grab them and pull that hot food on top of them."
Reynolds says to be sure to clean out your stove before you start preparing your turkey and casseroles.
And when it comes to holiday decorating, be sure to inspect your lights carefully.
"When you go get lights, always try to make sure that you find one that has like the Underwriters Lab (UL) on there, because that tells you these lights met minimum testing standards," Reynolds said.
When you go to plug in those lights, you should ensure you have a proper extension cord, according to fire officials.
"What we're don't want you to do is to get what we would call a daisy chain where you're getting an extension cord to an extension cord," Reynolds noted. "More times than not, when you hear me talk about an electrical fire, usually an extension cord was involved."
If any of decorations are tripping your breaker box, fire experts say the decorations are overloading your circuit, and you should remove some of them.
The Christmas tree is arguably the most popular decoration, but it's also the most flammable.
"If you've ever seen a Christmas tree when they go up, I mean it's instant," said Reynolds. "So you know, you will never have time to put it out yourself. You're lucky if you can get out of the house with your family.”
Reynolds says artificial trees are generally safer, but if you prefer a real Fraser fir, be sure the needles aren’t falling off when you take it home and water it each day.
"They usually recommend three strands of lights is about as many as you want to put together on a real tree," he explained.
Another tip: keep your Christmas tree away from your entryway and any heat source, including vents.
If you plan to hang lights outside of your home, be sure to clean your gutters and leep leaves away from lights to help prevent them from catching fire.
"If you just keep in mind all of those, you'll have a safe holiday," said Reynolds.
And if you don’t know what to give your loved one this holiday season, consider a fire extinguisher or even an upstairs escape ladder. They may not be the most fun gifts, but they could save your life.
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